Expedition Me & You

To most people, yesterday was Black Friday, a consumerist holiday that it seems like nearly every American store in existence participates in. Even pet stores have Black Friday sales. I remember all of our efforts at Petsmart while I worked there, getting hyped up about how great our sales would be. We would spend hours merchandising and getting things ready only to be sorely disappointed by sales by the end of the day. My attitude toward this tradition and toward consumerism in general has changed a lot since then. I had been quite happy to see so many nationwide retail outlets not open on Thanksgiving. I was even more appreciative when other retailers announced that they would be closed on the day after. One of our favorites, REI, was one such store. Last year, Chris and I spent our day after Thanksgiving hiking in Bastrop . This year, REI encouraged their employees and members to do the same thing with a campaign called #OptOutside. We were already planning on visiting a state pa...

Chris and I had a wonderful time today hiking a loop of trails at the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge . The area we ventured to is called Doeskin Ranch. While the refuge has a number of trails that are smaller in size, we opted to take portions of each trail and essentially travel a large loop around the area. Doeskin Ranch Trailhead Approximately 45 minutes from Austin, it is easy to get to. We didn't even use the GPS, just maps. Signs direct you to where you need to go. Very user friendly. Though the parking lot is a little small! Be sure to pick up a Doeskin Ranch Creek Trail self-guided tour brochure. There are nine numbered spots along the trail that you can view with corresponding educational information. Stop #1: Who's Home? We began at the Creek Trail, heading left and then south along the creek. The video at the start of this post features footage from that trail. Pictured above, this was once the home of settlers. Nature has sin...